Stylish New Japanese Restaurant Boosts The Heights’ Hot Dining Scene — Inside Oru, a First Taste Look

A stylish new Japanese restaurant is making a mark in The Heights. It called Oru — which means “to fold, bend or snap off” and is also the prefix to the word origami, the age-old art of paper folding. Houston’s Oru is housed in a modernist ebony gable-roofed structure that feels crisp and clean, as if it were constructed initially as a maquette made with paper before its architect brought it into being.

Located at 746 W 24th Street, Oru comes from Comma Hospitality, founded by Jeremy Truong, Paolo Justo, Luis Mercado and brothers Samee and Saber Ahmed. The group’s first restaurant, an intimate 10-seat omakase spot dubbed Neo, is located in the Ahmed brothers’ much-lauded menswear atelier Glass Cypress, in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood.

Oru broadens Neo’s scope in a sense, creating an à la carte menu that features some of the best-loved dishes seen on Neo’s 16-course tasting menu. Another difference? While Neo serves complimentary sake and invites you to bring your own bottle if you’d like, the new Oru offers a full cocktail, sake and wine list, the latter dominated by compelling French varietals.

Oru’s chefs Luis Mercado and Paolo Justo stand centerstage behind a pristine light wood counter, Yanagiba knife in hand, ready to carry out the restaurant’s ethos. It is one where the chefs do not dictate what each diner eats, but instead provides a menu built on the same care, delicacy and pristine ingredients that define omakase.

The chefs’ backgrounds span classical Japanese technique and bring global culinary influences to the menu with inspiration drawn from everything from Texas barbecue to fermentation techniques. The servers will undoubtedly steer you to start with warm taiyaki, those popular fish-shaped, waffle-like cakes with a savory side of Alaskan trout roe and a hay-smoked butter scented with grilled onions and garlic ($25).

The miso soup is a signature dish, reimagined through in-house fermentation and the unconventional addition of strawberries and piquant habanero peppers, creating a nuanced, unexpected flavor.

Don’t miss the likely most-talked-about starter on the menu: the wagyu lumpia ($15) or reverse beef Wellington. What arrives is a deep-fried egg roll stuffed with mushroom duxelles and wrapped with a raw, thin slice of Wagyu A5. Nor should you ignore the cold crudo preparation of maguro ($10/$19) tuna napped with a ginger vinaigrette, with daikon and sesame seeds. Chef Luis Mercado’s crudo madai with recado negro and purslane ($8/$16), blends Japanese technique with Mexican flavors to create a sea bream accented with Yucatan charred pepper paste.

Larger plates, apropos for sharing, include the okoge, built with crispy rice foraged from the bottom of a traditional hagama pot emulsified with uni butter and topped with mushroom butter ($25), and a salmon ($28) dish seasoned with barbecue spices, along with kyurizuke (pickled cucumbers) with spinach with a hint of smoke. There is a large selection of nigiri and sashimi to choose from, as well as two makimono rolls, including a spicy salmon ($16) with avocado and cilantro, the heat brought to you care of fresh Thai chiles. While the maguro futomaki ($18) is rolled up with bluefin tuna, marinated spinach and takuan (pickled daikon radish).

Don’t leave without a little something sweet or the elegant tea service with caffeine-free soba cha ($11) or the elegant genmaimatcha, green tea with toasted brown rice ($14) should you prefer. We swooned over the warm taiyaki ($9) served with a compote layered with strawberry preserves and a hazelnut cream.

Oru is located at 46 W 24th Street in Houston’s The Heights neighborhood. It is open from 4 pm to 10 pm Tuesdays through Thursdays and 4 pm to 11 pm Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Sundays and Mondays.